DRUG SENTENCING BILL HEADING FOR SEBELIUS' DESK

TOPEKA -- A bill that will sentence some drug offenders to treatment
programs rather than prison won Senate approval and headed to Gov. Kathleen
Sebelius on Thursday.

On a 27-13 vote, the Senate accepted a version amended by the House to ease
concerns over funding and the bill's potential for decriminalizing drug
possession.

The measure would require judges to place some people convicted of simple
drug possession into community-based treatment centers, which could include
faith-based programs, instead of prison.

People with prior convictions for selling or manufacturing drugs or with
histories of violent crime would not be eligible.

The state would pay for treatment, which the Kansas Sentencing Commission
estimated would cost $9 million in the next fiscal year.

Proponents said the measure would free up space in Kansas' state prisons,
which are near capacity. Treatment would be less expensive than building
new state prisons, they said.